“There you are,” Matt said, smiling at me as I made my way out of the school office.
“Sorry, I got pulled in to “discuss” another…altercation.” I grinned, and Matt grinned back.

“Honestly, this has been going on between you and Nina for years – when’s it going to stop?”

“She’s always the one who starts it! She ju-“

Matt laughed, and grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

And we made our way back to mine.

This sounds like we’re in a relationship. The grabbing of hands, the making our way back to mine….we’re not. Let me just make that one clear. We’re just really good friends. And that may sound like the biggest excuse in the book, but we really are. I don’t see him that way. It’s a brother-sister thing we have going on.

And that’s good, because I don’t have a real brother – I’m an only child. It’s just me and Dad, and he works nights, which is why we always go to mine, so we can avoid awkward parent talk like we get if we’re at Matt’s place. Like me, Matt lives with his Dad, but Jim owns a plumbing company and works normal hours, so he’s always around to ask…awkward questions.

I’ll leave it at that….

When we got back to mine, I fumbled around in my pocket for my house key, and came up empty. “Damn,” I said, patting myself all over to search for a key-sized lump in one of my pockets. Matt laughed.

“Have you checked the front pocket of your bag?”

I froze, and blushed, just like I always do every day. “I knew that,” I muttered, as I reached inside my bag.

When we got inside, I saw that Dad had left the place a mess, as usual.